We have a washer and dryer in our apartment building’s basement, which is $1.25 per load. It’s not so bad to wash clothes/towels/sheets for two adults, but I expect we’ll have a ton of extra laundry once the baby comes.

Would you recommend we use disposables until we have an in-house W/D unit? Or maybe go 25% cloth, 75% disposable?

I’ve always been good at saving. I contribute a hefty chunk of my paycheck to my 401k, have a good-sized CD, and I squirrel away extra money into a money market. No worries there.

Since I’ve now been at my current job a year, my employer has started matching my 401k contributions up to 4%. I’ve been contributing well over 4% up to this point.

I’ve read a lot of good things about Roth IRAs, and was considering pulling back my 401k contribution slightly (but still contributing well over 4%) and using the extra to fund a Roth IRA.

However, I’m getting married next year, and my law-student fiance has secured a job (pending passing the bar) that, when you include my salary, puts us over the Roth limit (lucky me, I know!).

So should I just contribute one year’s worth to a Roth, open a traditional IRA and fund it as long as I can get the deduction, or just leave the higher contribution to my 401k alone (or some combination of the three)?

Thanks!

Please have a large one you can access quickly. None of the financial experts I have read suggest the Roth IRA.

I was working one day and “thrown uder the bus” the next. Short version: I was accused of making 1 mistake that I did not make.

I had dipped into my $2,000 emergency fund for previous emergencies, and it was down to $300 which went fast.

My boyfriend & I live together and share expenses. We used our “stimulus checks” for bills. There is more of his check left. I have unemployment, but a Cobra payment of $450 per month. Without this insurance, I would pay more than $450 per month for required medication, so I must pay it.

Now I am Queen Frugal: store brand products, some grocery shopping at Aldi (bottom of the barrel in Chicago), cashed in change from the change jar ($120), only buy w/coupons and on sale, sold some cds and dvds. Still more cds, dvds, books, furniture to sell.

We had worked so hard to pay off debts – only car payment left (we rent). We were no longer paycheck to paycheck. Now, money/bills are my last thought beore I go to sleep at night, and the first thought in he morning. A crummy place to be.

Please, learn from me and have that fund!

Warm Regards,
Francine

That’s probably dumb, though, because Trent is right. All you need is one angry student claiming they were inappropriately touched or propositioned by you, and it’s all over for you.

That said, I second what Ann said about being able to withdraw all the money you contribute to a Roth IRA at any time without paying a penalty. Any interest, dividends or growth have to be saved. So you could definitely put more money than you think you can afford into a Roth IRA. I haven’t actually tried to take money from my Roth IRA, so I don’t know how many hassles there would be getting it out. I suspect very few. You might have to fill out some forms and wait for a check to be mailed or something.

To Malik: You might want to look for read advice to lottery winners. It says the same thing as Trent and may give you more ideas.

I have tried wesabe.com, but I don’t especially like how it works.

Do you have any other recommendations?

thanks.

This is true, but some people can’t afford to fund an emergency savings account and max out a Roth. (Note that Mandi, who asked the question, is asking whether to keep saving in an emergency fund OR fund her Roth.) In this case, they’re better off just going for the Roth. If they have to pull emergency funds from it, they’ll be no worse off than if they had never contributed to it in the first place. And if the emergency never happens, they’re better off because their money is growing tax-free.

I keep hoping to hear more about your cooking site. Any news on that front?

These are great if you subscribe to only a few feeds.